Dan Brown in London court in Da Vinci Code copyright row

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London (dpa) - The secrets of "The Da Vinci Code" were unravelled Monday behind the doors of courtroom 61 at the High Court in London, where bestselling author Dan Brown faced two historians who claim that he copied their plot for his blockbuster novel.

Brown, who is known to hate publicity, looked bewildered by the array of press cameras facing him as he emerged from a chauffeur- driven car outside the 19th century Victorian Law Courts in central London.

"He is famous but he does not have a famous face", said a BBC reporter who added that Brown had to be pointed out to journalists on his arrival because no one knew what he looked like.

In courtroom 61, there was standing room only as Brown, one of the world's highest paid authors, watched legal teams tackling the challenge of "theft of intellectual property."

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, both historians and writers, are suing their own publishers, Random House, claiming that Dan Browns internationally successful novel "lifts the central theme" from their 1982 book, "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail."

The non-fiction work, which is also a bestseller, has seen a revival in sales since the clash with Brown's thriller which, by a twist of irony, is published by the same US publishing empire.

The claimants are understood to demand damages of 10 million pounds (17 million dollars).

Their book deals with theories that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married, had a child, and the blood line continues to this day - with the Catholic Church trying suppress the discovery.

It is similar to the theme explored in the Dan Brown novel which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, been translated into 44 languages and has earned the author in excess of 200 million pounds.

Brown has previously acknowledged the theories of "The Holy Blood" in his novel. He names the villain in his story Sir Leigh Teabing which, it has been suggested, was a deliberate part anagram of the surnames of the authors of the earlier work.

Lawyers for the two historians alleged Monday that Brown infringed their copyright by "lifting the architecture" of their book 20 years earlier.

"Dan Brown copied from 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' and therefore the publication of the result by the defendants is in infringement of the copyright of my client in the United Kingdom."

"The authors' historical conjecture has spawned many other books that developed aspects of this conjecture in a variety of directions", James added.

However, lawyers for Random House said in court Monday that they had not been provided with sufficient specific allegations outlining the similarities between the two books.

"The question the court is facing is whether you can copyright an idea, a conjecture", said a legal expert. "You could argue that through the centuries writers have recycled plots and ideas."

If the claimants are successful and opt to take injunctions stopping use of their material, it could threaten the British release of the film adaptation of the novel, starring Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen, which is scheduled to open this year's Cannes film festival.

The proceedings, set to continue for 15 sessions, were adjourned until next Monday.